Hearts of Iron
by IronHydra
Summary: Deep in the frontier of Vale, an army arrives.
1. Prologue

Prologue: A Deal with the Devil

* * *

Ricken suppressed the urge to shudder as he looked into his guest's dispassionate eyes. His ears twitched spasmodically as the man drummed his fingertips against the tabletop, each clack hammering against his eardrums like the crack of a rifle.

Around him, the small gathering of his fellow settlement heads refused to meet the man's gaze.

He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't afraid. He was their only lifeline amidst the ever encroaching threat of the Grimm, and one small mistake in their negotiations would doom the small alliance of settlements. Ricken wet his lips slightly before speaking.

"I assume you know the reason why we have called you here?"

The man gives him a _look,_ leaning forward on his chair and steepling his fingers. Ricken felt a chill run up his spine as the man merely _stares_ at him.

"Enlighten me."

The settlement head forces a smile on his face. "It has been many months since you and your men have arrived here, correct?" He takes his guest's slight nod as a gesture to continue, "You have, undoubtedly, faced off against the creatures of Grimm as a result of your...displacement. Ferocious beasts that stalk Remnant's surface. They come in many shapes and sizes - from the Beowulves that your men kill with casual ease to the Nevermores that prowl the sky. The Grimm are in hordes far beyond counting. For every one you kill, two more will rise to take it's place."

Ricken's ears pick up what sounded like a low curse coming from his lips, judging from the way he spoke ' _Russisch_ '. He swallows.

"As I understand it, a small... _kom_ _panie,_ " he struggles with the word briefly, before continuing, "of your men held off a wave of Beowulves and Ursai at Elsa's settlement." Ricken gestures to the rabbit-eared woman next to him, who gives their guest a smile and a nod.

"That would be correct, _Herr_ Ricken."

He inadvertently releases a breath he didn't know he was holding. "We...we must extend our thanks for this act. The other settlements were too busy preparing to send a force over to help pacify the Grimm. Our manpower is limited. If your men hadn't been there at the time, many lives would have been lost."

"There would have." their guest agrees, and the silence that had preceded the meeting settled in.

"I am going to be honest with you," Ricken begins, "We cannot fully defend ourselves. Sometimes, the Grimm come in such large numbers that leaves us no choice but to evacuate our small outposts...and in some cases, entire settlements." Leyfirel came to the forefront of his mind, and he could not help but let out a sigh.

"And this is where my men come in, _ja_?"

The settlement head inwardly smiles. They were now reaching the latter half of their negotation.

"Yes. You must understand - though the Hunters come occasionally and sweep the area clean of Grimm, it will not stay like that forever. The Grimm are attracted to negative emotions. Fear, loneliness, _hatred_ ," he reigns in the anger in the last word just barely, "and they congregate to the source of that negativity like moths to a flame."

The man nods in understanding.

"It is my hope that we can come to an..agreement of sorts, if you will. We are in need of protection against the Grimm, and your men are the kind of protection we are looking for."

An eyebrow is arched. "You wish for us to act as your aegis against these... _kreaturen._ "

"Yes." Ricken admits, brows furrowing slightly when his guest cracks his index finger with his thumb, "I will arrange for places your men can stay if you are to agree to this. Your help would be appreciated."

"Why do you stay in these settlements instead of the cities?"

The question causes Ricken to reel back, before his eyes flash with anger. "Our kind are shunned by the humans in the cities. We Faunus are treated like second class citizens. Many of us live in the slums, and establishments openly favor humans over Faunus. It is open segregation. We are kicked out of stores for our features, denied work because of our looks."

Ricken knows he is getting worked up - the stares from both his guest and fellow heads of settlements attest to that. Elsa's tug against his sleeve should have calmed him down, but it has the opposite effect.

"The reason we live here is so we may escape that _bigotry_ , that utterly blatant _racism_ \- and damn anyone who tries to take that away from us, be it Grimm or humans!" he yells, punctuating his statement by slamming his fist on the tabletop and standing up, his chair falling to the floor with a low thud.

"Would your people not raise an issue with _humans_ ," the man stresses, eyes seemingly gleaming with barely hidden amusement, "protecting them, then?"

Ricken falters for a moment, realising his mistake, and he feels the gazes of his fellows on his back. To his credit, however, the cat Faunus merely straightens and fixes his guest with a harsh glare.

"I would do anything to protect my kin, even if it meant making a deal with the devil himself."

A sound fills the room, and it takes a few moments for Ricken to realise that the man was laughing. It continues for what seems like hours, before it subsides, the man standing up.

"You are a great leader!" he exclaims, and a look of confusion crosses Ricken's features before his guest continues, "Only a man who truly cares for those under his protection would make such an outrageous statement!"

He feels ever so slightly embarrassed when a murmur of agreement emerges from the impromptu council behind him. He shoots them a glare, only for them to chuckle. He turns to his guest, who extends a hand to him.

"I will accept this agreement, _Herr_ Ricken," he says, flashing the man a grin as he cracks his index finger once more, "I trust that you will uphold your end of the bargain."

Ricken mirrors the gesture, shaking his counterpart's hand and letting a smile dance on his lips, relief showing in his face. "I intend to do so, _Generalleutnant_ Joachim."

* * *

 _Please leave a review, if you would._


	2. Eins

**I -** _Eine Frage der Rasse_

* * *

There were barely any defenses.

Not that Hauptmann Konrad Wehrner expected any; from the large stream of information dripping down from the 372nd _Infanteriedivision's_ HQ, they were never meant to effectively hold on their own. They _couldn't_ hold their own. The Grimm were simply too numerous, and manpower too little, to set up proper defences.

That is why, as he looked over some of the guard resting near the town center, most of them clutched a sword close to their chest, or rather uncommonly, a rifle. Rarer still were were those strange guns that the natives dubbed 'assault rifle' in their language - _sturmgewehrs._ There were no signs of anything approaching an anti-tank gun, or even a light howitzer of a sort.

Konrad can understand. Their job was to drive away individual Grimm while the Hunters take out the bigger sized swarms lurking in the depths of the forests. An entire force of these men would simply die upon the claws and teeth of those vicious creatures. Hunters, however...

From what he recalled during the 62nd _Infanterieregiment's_ briefing, Hunters were at the forefront of this world's war of survival. Whatever they were, they could defeat entire swathes of Grimm with relative ease. How they pull off such feats on a regular basis, the division's headquarters were still to find out, but the words 'Dust', 'Aura' and 'Semblances' cropped up frequently.

It sounded like something born from the depths of a child's imagination, but the Hauptmann can scarcely complain; he was already in a world where fantasy was reality. He would love to see one in action - if they ever responded, that is.

From consulting with one of the locals, Hunters rarely stopped by the frontier to carry out their missions, which were usually concentrated near the larger cities. The Hauptmann is not surprised: the larger population centers were obvious targets. A large Grimm attack there would inevitably devastate the bulk of Vale's industry.

A darker part of his mind curses them for not doing more on this front, but he suppresses it with the reasoning that there are simply not enough Hunters to go around.

He nears the edge of the town, jackboots slamming into earth. Konrad's appearance draws a few stares, but he pays them no heed as he passes by.

The walls were adequate for what the village could build with it's scarce materials - a mix of wood and stone, with the occasional guard tower. He can see his men taking up positions and talking to the guards on duty, and he allows himself a smile.

The town itself housed roughly around two thousand people. Most of its citizens lived in single family dwellings, usually one story high. However, they were mostly built with sturdiness over comfort - resources were either imported from the cities, which was expensive, or scrounged up from their environment.

Inwardly, Konrad was impressed. That these people voluntarily chose to live here and managed to build a functioning community was nothing short of courageous in his opinion - or in the eyes of others, pure unadulterated insanity.

From his position at the foot of the wall, he can see Erich Steiner, First Squad's leader, talking to a guard, looking displeased. Dressed in his officer's uniform, he looked far more imposing than the guard he was conversing with, who wore a small plate of armor over his white shirt.

Konrad let out a sigh. Erich would mostly likely be complaining about the town's lack of heavy weapons. He needed to stop him before he started to fling vitriol at the poor man.

He only manages to get a boot on the first wrung of the ladder before he feels something slam into his side.

With a startled yelp, the Hauptmann falls onto his back. A mass of gasps followed after.

When he opens his eyes, the first thing he sees is the rabbit ears.

 _Faunus._

With a grunt, he pushes himself up, the small girl backpedalling away from him and into the small crowd of Faunus children as he drew himself up to his full height.

"S-sorry!" the girl squeaked as she looked up at Konrad.

For his part, he merely rubs his shoulder. "It's-" his shoulder cracks, "okay. I'm not hurt." He gives her a smile.

Behind him, Erich slid down the ladder, an eyebrow raised as he approaches his superior. "You okay, Konrad?"

He grunted. " _Ja_. It was nothing." It wasn't like he saw it coming, after all.

"What's going on here?!" a voice rumbled in Valish.

Konrad turned to the voice. The guard that Erich was talking to approached the small gathering, a look of fury on his face.

Above them, First Squad watched the confrontation from their positions on the wall.

The guard stopped by Konrad, glaring at the children with disgust. The children seemed to shrink under the intensity of the man's gaze.

"Did they do anything to you?" he asked, tearing his gaze away from the small assembly to him.

"One of them," Erich says, gesturing to the rabbit Faunus at the forefront, "knocked into my _Hauptmann_ and bowled him over."

The small pause that Erich had given the guard was enough for him to arrive to a natural conclusion. His face turned a rather unhealthy shade of red as he turned back to the children.

" _You pushed him over?!_ " he roared, stepping forward until he towered over the children.

"I-it was by a-accident, Mister-" the rabbit Faunus begins, but the man cuts her off.

"Do you know who these people are? These people are the men doing their best to protect us from the Grimm outside the walls!" He jabs a thumb over his shouldee at Konrad. "He's their commander! What do you think would happen if he was hurt when you pushed him over? Or, even worse, broke his neck when he landed?" He gestures to the height of the wall as he does so.

Konrad doubted that he would've broken his neck; the chances of that happening were astronomically low. Even if it happened and he died, one of his officers would step up to take his job. _Heer_ troops were trained to think two levels above their current rank, so when their officer died in combat, another would smoothly take over. The precaution had paid off during urban combat and when fighting against particularly crafty Russian partisans.

"Hey! It was just an accident, okay?" a large boy had pushed his way to the front, fangs bared in animosity towards the guard. In his hand, he clutched a small stick. "She didn't see where she was going, and you're making it sound like she would've killed him! Lay off her!"

Murmurs of agreement among the children broke out.

A loud, resounding smack followed, and both Konrad and Erich realised that the guard had just hit the boy.

The small crowd was rapidly growing in size as the guard picked up the boy by his collar. A large bruise was forming on the boy's cheek, and Konrad held no doubt that it would swell later.

"Don't talk to me like that!" the man snarls, "You Faunus are always causing trouble! You're nothing but a burden on this town; all you've done is steal and point fingers to honest, trustworthy human beings! You keep asking for better rights, but you don't even bat an eye when those White Fang bastards stir up trouble in Vale!"

A distinctly human majority of the crowd was nodding and yelling and shooting glares at the few Faunus who stood by them. For a moment, he was struck by the parallels of the actions of the humans against the Faunus and the rallies led by Hitler himself.

He shook his head. This was getting far too out of hand. He can see the village head, an elderly man flanked by two guards with rifles, approaching the gathering. It was time to stop this before it got worse.

"That is enough." Konrad interjected, placing his hand on the shorter man's shoulder.

"But-"

"Enough." He squeezed the belligerent guard's shoulder as hard as he could, and the German captain notes with slight pleasure that the man winced, "It was just a small incident, and the girl has already apologized to me, _ja_?"

The irony of someone raised in a regime that looked down upon others not of their own race and actively encouraged action against such people standing up for such a person was not lost on him.

The man whirls around, face an ugly shade of purple as he looked at Konrad. He opens his mouth, but the Hauptmann stops him with a glare. "This is a trivial matter. _Let it go._ "

Whatever his response was, he would never know as he turned on his heel and walked away, fuming. The crowd dispersed soon after, save for him, Erich, the rabbit Faunus and another, older Faunus.

The young woman who was hovering protectively around the girl looks at him, gratitude evident in her features. "Thank you."

"I assume you are her sister?" Konrad asks, and the girl inclines her head.

"Y-yes," she said, "I'm Violet Vin, and this is my sister, Peach."

"Konrad Wehrner. Behind me is Erich Steiner." Erich steps forward, flashing a V sign at the pair and giving a small smile. Violet's eyes light up in realisation.

"You're those new people everyone's been talking about. The do- douche, right?"

He grimaced. Erich steps in. "I find it easier to say German, Fräulein Vin."

"O-oh, okay." she mumbles. "W-we've never had someone stand up for us lately, much less a human..." she trails off, looking at the German man with just the slightest hint of a blush on her cheeks, "I-, um, thanks for protecting my sister against Russel. H-he doesn't really like Faunus much."

Behind him, Erich snickers. He curled his fists at the implications. He was going to deck the Oberleutnant once this was done.

Peach bobs her head in agreement.

"He's a big meanie to us!" she says from behind her sister's leg. She looks up to Konrad and Erich. "But you are really nice! Are all Germans like you?"

He pauses momentarily, turning the words over in his mind before replying. "Most of us. There are some mean people, but our commander punishes them if they try anything bad against the people living here."

He was overstating things, but it would be best to soothe their fears, even for a little while.

Peach beams at the two men of the Sixth Company, while Violet merely gives them an awkward smile.

Someone coughs, and the four turn to their audience. The village head is there, while his two guards seemed to have disappeared somewhere. The elderly man folds his hands behind his back and gives a smile towards the two girls, who return the gesture.

"Now that the commotion is over, what was going on over here?" the village head asked he looked at Konrad, brows furrowed.

"A matter of race, _Herr_ Maron." he replied, lifting his gaze from the sisters towards the old man. "I do believe we have much to talk about."

* * *

 _I'm trying to work my way up to longer chapters, I promise._


End file.
